Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
What was Black & Gold and charmingly loud all over has turned a delicious Dirty & Divine in the space of just a couple of years as Swedish band Thundermother return with their brand-new and rock exotic recording, one that will have the masses who see the genre as the testament to the enduring heavenly-siren like call which brings them to their knees in praise and adulation.
Following on from the 2022 release Black & Gold could have been a hard task for the revitalised band that was reduced to the sole original member of Filippa Nässil, but whilst separation can be harmful, it is also a catalyst for change, and as the new line up, which includes Linnéa Vikström on vocals, Joan Massing on drums, and the returning Majsan Lindberg on bass, so the Dirty & Divine is a dynamic reasoning of self-assurance and scorching female rock persuasion.
Euphoria might be considered a bold call but on the hard rock table the album is served with relish, a fierce independence and a dramatic bliss that captures and frames the attention with a kind of fashion that once heard by likes of American stalwarts Vixen but fronted by a voice that is unapologetic for its demand to be heard in the struggles and brawls of the 21st Century.
Thundermother strike out with impunity and immense satisfaction as tracks such as Can’t Put Out The Fire, Speaking Of The Devil, I Left My License In The Future, Bright Eyes, and American Adrenaline all display muscle, liberty, and influence of a self-motivated push to realign themselves which the vision first pinpointed and executed with style and a cool so warm that it would melt the hearts of even the most frosty onlooker.
An album swimming in the delights of the natural and the invigorating, Thundermother return to re-establish the constant drama and insight that only an in synch female rock band can provide; Dirty & Divine is the force of angels and the marvellously devilish in full action and accord.
Thundermother release Dirty & Divine on February 7th via AFM Records.
Ian D. Hall